Flashbacks and Echos
by Nina of the Galaxy
Summary: When you find your soulmate, your whole world becomes emboldened with color. And when your soulmate dies, the world goes back to black and white. Laurel and Oliver for all their many forays with death have always seen color and always come back to each other.
1. Red

"You have to give it up, honey," Quentin said as Laurel wrapped yet another birthday present for Oliver.

It had been five years and there was no indication that he was coming back. They'd had a funeral and she'd spoken at it. Everyone else had moved on with their lives without Oliver in it. To be honest, he was glad the poor sap was gone, Laurel had gotten so much more done without him there.

She shook her head though, and finished putting the ribbon on the box. "He's still alive," She said to him.

This conversation was a point of contention that always came up. "Honey, we've talked about this, he's gone. The whole world has moved on, why haven't you?" He asked, concerned for his only daughter. He loved her so much. With Sara dead and Dinah gone, all they had was each other.

She ripped her eyes away from the present and looked at him with deadly force. "Because I can still see color. He's alive. I'm right, I know it. Besides, having a present is just good planning. Even if it is a couple of weeks away." She said as she went back to the present and put it up on the shelf with all of the other unopened presents she had gotten him over the years.

She met Oliver and Tommy when she was eight years old and she had begun to see hazy colors at that point, but real color had come when she was fifteen and Oliver had become a bit sweeter to her. They noticed each other to the chagrin of Quentin and there had been a very innocent courting period, but then it had gotten real for the both of them.

Living in color was so much more than they ever told you. When she first experienced true color, she didn't know how to feel. Vibrant didn't even really cover it. The world felt like you belonged in it and when Oliver took her by the hand and gave her a kiss on it, his lips touching her skin with all that saturation, it was incredible.

Quentin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, we're having dinner tonight, right?" He asked her. He didn't want her alone near his birthday. Which meant a lot of these dinners together the month of his birthday. That man cheated on her and she claimed she could still see color because he was still alive. How could you love a guy like that? He had to believe she was just lying and really heartbroken, but she got especially emotional around his birthday.

She waved him off as she made some coffee and stuck her nose in another law book or journal or something. She kept very up to date for all of the stuff she was doing for CNRI, which kept her busy, which he definitely liked because it kept her far away from the painful memories that he was trying to keep her from.

Dinner ended up being uneventful of chinese food and Laurel said goodnight to her father and took her leftovers inside and put them in the refrigerator. She pulled out a case file and sat down at her desk and worked until she fell asleep.

The next morning, she got up, put on her work clothes and went to work. Something felt a little bit different, the colors were a little bit more vibrant and everything seemed a little bit sharper, but she chalked it up to he was finally having a good day in whatever hell hole he was in.

She went through the mail with Joanna running after her, "Laurel, we are a legal aid office. Not miracle workers. We can't win this," Joanna exclaimed.

Laurel was undeterred though, "If we can't win a class action lawsuit against a man who swindled hundreds of people out of their live savings and homes, then we're not fit to call ourselves a legal aid office," She said, with little regard for the idea that people would call them crazy for going up against such an oppenent. She knew it was a little crazy, but this is exactly why they did this. To do the crazy thing and win.

Like Quentin, Joanna was a little more practical about the whole big dreams thing. She also thought Laurel was crazy for believing that Oliver was still alive after all this time. She'd been begging her to get back out on the scene and believed that some of Laurel's craziness at work came from the fact she didn't have love in her life. "And if we go bankrupt in the process, we will not be a legal aid office," Joanna reminded her. "Hunt has an army of lawyers and they're ready to bury us,"

Laurel looked up from the mail and looked to Joanna and smiled, "You and me, against an army. I love those odds," She said as she went back to her desk and looked at all the information they had on Hunt. They could do this. They had all the pieces of the puzzle. Or at least most of it. They just had to be fearless.

"And in other news, details as to the castaway story you've all heard about, the son of a very wealthy billionaire will soon become a legendary story."

There was a blast of color on one of Hunt's pictures they had collected over the past several months once she heard those words and then she looked over to the TV screen to see what the hell was going on. What the hell was going on with her sense of color?

"Jessica now has more details and the complete castaway story," The anchorman said as he threw to Jessica.

And then Laurel relived one of the worst days of her life through Jessica's retelling of the story, "The Queen's gambit was last heard from more than five years ago. Mr. Queen has reportedly confirmed he was the only survivor of the accident that took the lives of more than seven people, including local resident Sara Lance. Survived by her sister, Laurel-" Which is when she cut off. She couldn't take it anymore.

Of course, that caused its own set of problems, because while everyone knew that Laurel was intense, they didn't know where it came from and now it was all out there on display. She dropped the remote and walked away, picked up her bag and left.

Quentin came bursting into her apartment where he found her blank faced and staring at the wall where she had put all of his presents. "Oh honey," He said.

She shook her head. "Don't," She said as she went into her kitchen and poured some more coffee for herself.

If he had to guess that was probably about her eighth cup and he wished she didn't do that to herself. It wasn't good for your nervous system. That stuff could kill you and he knew that she coped this way. He shouldn't let her throw herself into work, that was going to be worse.

"What can I do to help you?" He asked.

She chuckled. "You can leave me alone," She said, "I have a lot of work to do. Adam Hunt isn't just going to hand us an easy verdict and I have a lot of things to take care of to make sure all of these people who are counting on me, they get their justice," She told him as she stirred her coffee and moved to her office.

"Honey," He said as he followed her, "Are you sure that's such a good idea? I mean you have a lot to process. Oliver being alive is a lot for you to deal with, no one would blame you for taking a couple of days off," He said as he came further in the room, but she shook her head.

She backed further to her desk. "He's alive, so what?" She shrugged. "And if I take more time off, I'm just going to be behind and the people won't get their justice, so just go home, dad. I'm fine." She said and he reluctantly left.

That was the face of a woman who was definitely not fine, but he didn't know how to help her. He never had been good at helping her. Hell, for the last five years, she had been the one helping him, because he'd been in a not good place. What was he supposed to tell her? That even though he had thought she'd been crazy in the notion that Oliver was still alive, that she shouldn't keep all of that emotion inside? That would just upset her. Mostly, he also didn't want to have to admit he thought she was crazy at any point either.

The next morning, she went into work and Joanna found her quickly, "Laurel, I just got this from Hunt's lawyers. They just filed a change of venue," She informed her cofounder. "We are now in front of Judge Grell,"

Grell. Perfect, Laurel thought. All of that hardwork she'd done on the judge and the right way to go about making the most convincing argument right out the window. All of that stuff she'd worked on so hard last night, just down the drain, "Hunt funded Grell's re-election campaign," She said and Joanna made an affirming noise, "He's got Grell in his back pocket," She said.

Joanna nodded. "You know, it's fun being your best friend. I get to say 'I told you so,' a lot." She said and Laurel grinned at her.

"No," Laurel said, "Adam Hunt is not smarter than we are,"

Joanna agreed with that assessment. They were easily smarter than Adam Hunt. They had put more work into getting their own coffee than he had through most of business school. "He's just richer and willing to commit multiple felonies,"

"We don't need to go outside the law-" Laurel started as she started back to her desk to reformulate their plan of attack. They couldn't win it with the judge, so they had to find a way to make sure the judge didn't see this case. Making it seem like he had skin in the game.

Joanna nodded again, "To find justice. Your dad's favorite jingle," Joanna said with some affection. It was actually nice having a cop on their side for their clients. It meant that they had some sway.

Joanna left Laurel alone and Laurel turned back to her desk and she saw him, Oliver and god all of the color seemed to radiate from him, but all she could see was red, because how could he?

"Hello, Laurel," He said like five years hadn't gone by, like they couldn't do this anywhere else. Like him coming to her office was a good idea. She loved him, he made her live without him in color for five years. He didn't even have the decency to let her heart move on. And then he was just there and she almost couldn't believe it was real.

She shuffled him out the door as she told Joanna that she'd be back soon.

Laurel walked down the street with him and wasn't quite sure where to look with him. There was so much about him that hadn't changed. The way he had that knick of a scar on the right side of his jaw and his kind eyes, but there was something different behind those eyes. They had been changed irreparably by those five years.

"So you went to law school. You said you would," He said, trying to keep it light for a second.

She didn't really feel like keeping it light though. That seemed like such a mockery of what they had both been through. "Yep. Everyone is proud," She said to him shortly.

"Adam Hunt's a heavy hitter. You sure you want to get into the ring with him?" He asked, attempting to keep it light one last time. Maybe, she would just back down and see him and have things to say to him.

She didn't go for it though.

"Five years and you want to talk about Adam Hunt?" She asked him as she looked him in the eye for the first time since they had started the walk, which was actually impressive, because even when she was mad at him five years ago, he was never denied her eyes looking at him.

He conceded her point though, "No. Not really,"

"Why are you here, Ollie?" She asked him and god help her if what she wanted was a simple answer. I love you. I want you. I came back for you. I was running from lots of stupid things but I came back because you're here and I love you.

But he didn't say any of that.

Instead, he simply said, "To apologize. It was my fault," And it was clear that there would be simple answer. "I wanted to ask you not to blame her," He said. Like there was one simple thing or person to blame.

But more importantly, while Sara was a part of the problem, she was never the problem. She shook her head. "For what?" She asked. "Falling under your spell? How could I possibly blame her for doing the same things I did?" She asked him and the fierceness in her eyes, god, he loved that. That fierceness had gotten him to see things the right way so many times, but this time it just felt painful.

"I never meant to-" He started.

But he was cut off. "She was my sister. I couldn't be angry because she was dead. I couldn't grieve because I was so angry. That's what happens when your sister dies screwing your boyfriend." She told him and then she looked around and took a breath. She looked at him once more with more tender eyes. "We buried an empty coffin. Because her body was at the bottom of the ocean where you left her," She said and steeled herself up.

"It should have been you," She told him, almost ready to leave.

His heart broke when she said that. He saw in color because she was safe at home and she was there and the look of disdain on her face, it absolutely shattered him. "I know it's too late to say this," He said, "But I'm sorry,"

"I'm sorry too," She said to him, "I'd hoped I hadn't wasted my color on someone I couldn't stand the second I saw their face after five years." She told him.

He stopped her for just a second and looked at her, "You still-?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but there were plenty of days that I wished I hadn't. There were days that I hoped I would wake up and the world would be black and white again." She said as she took her arm from him before she opened up the trunk of her car and gave him all the presents that she'd amassed for him over the years. "Happy you're still alive," She said as she went back into the office and went to reformulate all of the plans she'd so carefully shaped over the past two days.

He looked stunned as he held all of the presents and he looked over to Tommy who rolled his eyes. "Told you that one didn't want you back home," He said.

Oliver shrugged. "I don't know," He said, with a little bit of a smile on his face, "She still sees color. She never lost the ability to see color," He told his friend, who just nodded along to Oliver's crazy ramblings.

The world had always been black and white to him until after Oliver died, when he finally got Laurel to really see him. But a world in color wasn't so different, it just had great greenery. Of course, Laurel and Oliver had their colorbearers back in each other's lives, things would be different for the three of them again.


	2. Blue

He came to her apartment just before he left. "Oliver," She said as she opened the door, surprised to see him. It was the Christmas holidays and all, but he hadn't exactly been chatty this year, what with Sara being dead and all eyes focused on trying to figure out who her killer was.

They'd ruled out some possibilities, but all that did was keep them at square one, looking for an identity in the small amount of clues they had. Every asset they had was on that case, but it still didn't seem like they were getting anywhere.

He smiled at her and god, she swore the world got more vibrant every time he smiled, she smiled back and lead him inside. "So what brings you around here?" She asked him as she sat on the couch and played with her necklace. There was so much in him that felt like it was serious business. She saw he had a bag packed and looked to it.

He nodded. "I'm going away for a day or two," He said as he looked at her. She nodded. He chuckled and reached into the bag and pulled out a present for her. "I wanted to give you this before I left,"

She took it from him and ripped off the packaging. It was a jewelry box. She opened it and saw a glittery heart pendant with a silver chain on it. She couldn't believe he remembered about this stupid bauble in all the time he'd been gone. "It's beautiful," She said as she looked up from box and to him. "But shouldn't you be giving this to your Felicity, not me?" She asked him.

He shook his head. "Felicity knows I love her," He said as he held her face in one hand and she allowed herself to rest her cheek there and look at him. "But you are the woman who gave me color. You are so important," He said. "I love you. Always and forever," He choked out. God, he didn't want to go, but she deserved more than this. She deserved more than her sister being part of a get out of jail free card.

He sighed. He didn't want to get up. "I should go," He managed. "Before I miss my flight," He told her as he picked up his bag, gave her the biggest hug in the world and then left without saying goodbye. If he said goodbye, that would be the end of it, he would never leave.

When he didn't answer his phone, she figured he extended his vacation or his business trip or whatever it was. She didn't worry because he was always going off places. It didn't matter that he was very vague and that occasionally the edges of reality began to fade. That was just the passage of time.

Thea came over one night though with a bag in tow, "Hey, can I stay here with you for a few nights?" She asked. "Oliver's not back yet and our big place just feels hollow without anyone else in it."

Laurel nodded. She didn't worry. She didn't worry because yeah, just because he'd given her a trinket that she'd wanted since she was fifteen and his sister was staying with her, that didn't mean anything was wrong. Nothing was wrong.

It couldn't be. He was a fighter. He would come back to her. He would come back everytime. Besides, not everything he did was dangerous. Maybe the trip was to the bahamas and he just got swept up in the moment. He needed to get away from the city and this was his way of coping. He didn't have any communication with any of them.

Diggle had asked her to get a report of a John Doe they found at a crime scene, see if they could piece together a puzzle that was waging war on the city. There was always someone waging war on the city. She supposed it was a little weird that didn't come from Oliver, but still, there was nothing to worry about. There was never more than a flash of black and white. And she had those sometimes. They were normal.

Especially when your soulmate was a vigilante. They had a pretty rough life. You learned to live with that. Oliver was never a halfway kind of person.

"...Sometimes the only thing you can do is keep pushing forward," Were the first words that Laurel heard when she came down the steps into the arrow cave. That didn't sound like super happy fun times. Yeah, of course, bringing justice to the city wasn't a barrel of monkeys, but that sounded distressed.

She looked around, "All right?" She asked the group. Which consisted of Roy, Diggle, and Felicity. Weird not to see Oliver down here, even if John had been the one to request the medical examiner's report. They were normally together, brothers in arms that way. She didn't think about it. "I've got the ME's report," She told them.

"Did they ID the body?" Diggle asked as he came forward.

She nodded. "Jose Anton," She answered him. "Career Criminal with ties to Danny Brickwell," She informed them. She was sure they already knew the extent of damage that Danny Brickwell was capable of doing, so it didn't go any further.

"I think Brickwell severed those ties pretty thoroughly," Roy snarked.

She came in closer and looked around, everyone looked like they were afraid to tell her that her childhood pet had died in their care. "Is everything okay?" She asked them, feeling a little swell in her heart. She pushed it down. Don't come to conclusions.

But when no one answered her, the swell came back. She hated it. She swallowed the swell down once more and asked the question she hated. "Where's Oliver?" She asked them.

Felicity looked away, but John and Roy, they looked at her, like they didn't know how to tell her.

John sighed, "Oliver went to fight the head of the league of assassins." He said to her simply. They kept this from her. They kept his journey away from her, but he had to be honest with her, with her looking him in the eyes right there.

"What?" She choked out.

"And we haven't heard from him since he left," Diggle

"And something else," Roy said as he looked at his shoes. He didn't exactly know how to say it, because what do you say when the man many consider enemy is the one giving you information? How do you say that you believe him? "Malcolm Merlyn stopped by for a little chat." He broke it quickly and like he couldn't stay there too long. "He says Oliver's dead," Roy finished.

"And you guys believe him?" Laurel spat.

"Look, Laurel, Merlyn said-" Diggle started. They had to get one of them on their side and it hadn't gone spectacularly well with Felicity. Laurel was a facts person though. She would understand.

She bulldozed right on through his statement, "There isn't one that Malcolm Merlyn can say that any of us should believe," She said as she cut him off. She looked to Felicity and smiled a little. "This isn't the first time I've heard that Oliver was dead." Laurel looked over to Roy and John and nodded her head. "He's been back before," She reassured herself as much as she reassured the others about Oliver. Oliver would never do this. "He'll be back again,"

Felicity nodded in solidarity. They were the only two that believed Oliver could ever be alive, but dammit that was okay. They were going to be there for each other.

Knowing what she did, going back to her apartment was a near impossibilty. She hated the idea of sleeping when Oliver could be dying. But Thea was there and since she hadn't said anything about the nature of Oliver's trip, Laurel guessed she didn't know either.

She unlocked her apartment door and smiled to Thea who was in the kitchen, cooking up some pasta, "I thought you might be hungry, with all that work you do," Thea said as she put a plate in front of Laurel. "I don't know a lot about cooking, but I do know how to read directions on a box." She said with a smile.

Laurel grinned. "It looks delicious," She said as she took the plate, "Look, I've got a case I'm working on, so don't mind me, I'm just going to be in my office," She said.

"Everything alright?" Thea asked as she furrowed his brow.

Laurel shook her head. "It's going to be. I promise," She told Thea as she kissed the younger girl on the forehead. "I just need to be left alone to deal with the case. But I'm going to be right here and if you really need me, don't be afraid to come get me." She said as she held back the tears that were threatening to fall.

Thea nodded and turned on the television in the living room. Laurel sat with her attention focused on the case that she needed to be focusing on. Oliver was not the only one bringing justice in the city and worrying about him was not going to bring him back.

Laurel's phone buzzed and she pulled it out. Her mother. She supposed it was for the best. They had Sara's secret in common and ever since then, her mom actually seemed to want to get closer. Maybe, because it was the last way that she could have Sara in her life, but honestly, Laurel didn't particularly care. "Hi mom," She said, trying not to sound too panicked.

"Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to come to a function with me?" She asked.

Laurel wondered if they were in the same dimension, let alone cared about the same things. "Mom, Central City isn't just like a car ride over." She said. "And I have work here to do." She said.

Dinah nodded her head against the phone. "I know, but you do all of that work and you're also looking for Sara's killer at night. And I'm sure you haven't taken one second to yourself. Besides, all of your STAR lab friends will be there, it'll be fun." She said.

Laurel nodded. "Why do I have a feeling that no matter what I say you're not going t let me out of this?" She asked.

"Come on," Dinah pleaded. "It'll be fun. Besides, you haven't gotten to travel enough in your life, taking care of your father." The rest, of course, was left unsaid. Because it was about Sara's first death and how Dinah left them after the divorce, where all they could do was fight. Laurel was always there picking up the pieces.

Laurel gulped and shook her head. "Fine mom, what do I need to bring with me?" She asked.

"It's the Red hearts and Blue Stars Ball. It's some sort of charity thing, but everyone's going to be in evening wear that's red or blue," She said, excitedly through the phone.

It amazed Laurel how her mother could go from dreary to over the moon in one sentence. Laurel went to her closet and thumbed through some of the things she had. Nothing that matched quite what they wanted. She thumbed through a few more things, almost stumbling onto something when it happened.

The color faded to basically nothing and it stayed there for minutes on end. Laurel dropped the phone and started hyperventilating.

This couldn't happen. It couldn't happen like this. He couldn't die on her. Not now. Not when the last thing he said to her was that he would always love her. No. No. It couldn't happen.

"Laurel?" Thea asked, panic in her voice, when she came running into the bedroom, "Laurel, what's wrong?" She asked more urgently, when she saw how ghostly white Laurel was.

Laurel shook her head and coughed.

Thea took Laurel's head in her hands and looked her in the eye. "Laurel, tell me what happened." She said.

Laurel shook her head again. "I can't." She said as she looked around the room. She picked up her phone and told her mom that she would call back later and both she and Thea moved to the edge of her bed and sat in silence for a second.

"That wasn't nothing," Thea said as she broke the silence. "What happened? I thought you were going to work on the case in your office?" She asked.

Laurel nodded. "I was," She wiped her nose. "But mom called asking me to this Ball that she's going to in Central City and I was looking for something to wear and I just had a panic attack." She told Thea. "They're normal. My therapist says it's because I can take too much on, but I don't know how to live any other way," She said.

Thea held Laurel close to her body, "Well, you just don't worry about it," She said as she ran her fingers through Laurel's hair.

Laurel hated lying to Thea. Thea should know about her brother. She would understand about all of the uniquely Laurel and Oliver things about this world. She'd understand that seeing for the first time in black and white in over two decades would have scared the shit out of Laurel.

But instead she had to lie.

Laurel wiped away her tears and looked to Thea. "Thank you," She said with a sad little smile, "I think I'm going to work on my case some more." She said as she went to the office and shut the door, before calling Felicity.

When she got the voicemail of her friend, she groaned. "Look, Felicity, I have Thea at my apartment and I just lost color for three minutes. That's the longest I have ever been without it since I was eight. Something's wrong with Oliver and I just, I need some help, because I'm freaking out right now. He promised he would come back, tell me he's gonna come back," She told the voicemail and then she hung up.

She breathed in and breathed out like her therapist taught her how to do in those moments and it was all she could do not to scratch her arms until she bled.

Laurel honestly didn't even want to look at he case. All she wanted was to have Oliver back or news that he was coming back. Honestly, she needed someone who cared enough to tell her that he would come back, that losing color for that long, it was just a one time thing.

But it wasn't. And Felicity didn't call back. The other person who cared about him so much didn't call and it felt like a hundred bees were attacking her. Eventually she fell asleep sitting there by the door, when her phone rang, and it was her boss, telling her that they had some bad news.

She tried everything to undo the mess that had been caused. It wasn't fair. These were people who shouldn't be able to get away like this. They hurt people. But the law was on their side and she knew that, despite how hard she fought to make it seem like it wasn't. Ultimately, there was nothing that could be done, legally.

"Eight months to put 'em away. Eight minutes to set 'em loose," Diggle bemoaned when she got to the cave with the bad news.

She sighed. "I'm sorry," She said. "I tried. But without the evidence, the judge had to let them go," She hated how the justice system worked sometimes. It wasn't fair that these clear criminals were allowed to roam free because someone else also committed a felony and took their evidence.

Color faded to black and white and she clung to the metal of the nearest table, which worried Diggle. Thirty seconds. And then it bloomed back. Diggle held her up and then put space between them again. "You okay?" He asked.

She shook her head. "You wouldn't understand it," She told him.

He nodded, "He's not coming back," He said as he looked away from the screen telling them just how many at large criminals there were in the city. "Oliver," As if she didn't know who he was referring to. The only he they shared in common. "I know you don't want to believe it, Laurel. God knows I don't, but.." He paused. He didn't know how to say it, didn't know how to say something that was sure t leave a bad taste in her mouth. "He's not coming back,"

"Are you?" She asked him in a clear voice. If they didn't have Oliver, it wasn't like justice didn't need to still be served and she knew that Diggle was a man of honor. "Are you coming back?"

"I don't know," He shrugged as he looked at her with a little bit of a frown on his face. Not like he hated the company, but because of the realization that came with her asking that question. "For the first time since I met Oliver Queen, I don't know what happens next,"

He went on and got this bright smile when he thought about Oliver, especially in the early days, when Oliver was a hassle client who didn't know when to stop dodging him. "I know it's silly, but I still like to think of myself as Oliver's bodyguard," But with that came the facts and he breathed deeply, "I just couldn't protect him,"

"It's funny. He was worried something would happen to me," He looked to her and she nodded. She brought him in for a hug, because even if she didn't believe that Oliver was gone, she knew what it was like to feel hopeless.

She looked down at her shoes for a moment, "When I held the desk," She said to him, "It was because the color drained out of the world," She told him. "As long as Oliver's alive, there has always been color in my world, but right now, it's fading in and out and god, this is the first time I've ever had that happen." She told him.

He nodded and left the cave because that sounded like a woman who had given up. She'd finally come to terms with the fact that Oliver wasn't a god. Oliver wasn't invincible. Sometimes people didn't come back.

But as she stayed there and steeled herself, she saw her sister's equipment and got an idea. The Canary was gone, but what if she didn't have to be? Sara never gave up justice for the people who deserved it simply because the bad guys had found a way to avert the law in their favor.

Danny Brickwell made the fight personal. He made it so that there was no mistaking what they were doing as vigilantes was the right thing to do. When they brought the fight to him, it wasn't just masks. It was an entire borough of Starling City. They were all gathered to protect their home, protect their city.

Ted took a huge beating from Brick and she comforted him, he said she lied to him, but she just wanted him not to worry, when she heard the arrow buzz past their heads. It wasn't Roy's either, because he was in front of them.

Laurel looked up and saw the green edge sticking out, "Oliver?" She asked, out loud, forgetting for a second that they were in a crowd of people. But after all of the fading and edging color had done to her lately, if there was a chance this was him, she was going to melt into it.

He took his time in a back alley, deciding what to do, but when he climbed onto that armored truck, she knew it was him. It hadn't been for nothing. The hope and the panic. It was all there to make her stronger. To make her believe in bigger miracles than just cheating death by being strong. He cheated death by sheer force of will, determined to survive.

"I've been gone and I'm sorry," He said to the city, "Sorry for what the city has had to endure in my absence. But you did endure it," He announced like he was a proud father. She supposed that wasn't an entirely inept description. The city looked to the Arrow for guidance. "And the evidence of that struggle is lying at my feet," Laurel chuckled under her breath. He always was kind of cheesy. "You did not fail this city. And I promise, I will not fail you by leaving it again,"

She went back to her apartment and looked to Thea with the biggest grin, "Hey, you know what?" She asked. Thea looked a little confused, but made a gesture for Laurel to go on, "I think we should go get some ice cream and watch trashy tv at your house." She said.

"But we could do that here," Thea said as she saw Laurel go down to her bedroom and pick up a bag.

Laurel shrugged. "But you have a bigger TV. And the best cable package in the city. And I want to watch lots of what not to wear reruns," She said as she put a pair of pajamas in her bag and Thea nodded as she packed stuff up real quick too.

They got through three episodes and Thea crashed on the couch. Laurel kissed the girl's forehead and swept away some of her hair as she padded into the kitchen to get some ice cream and then to the guest room to work on her case load.

"Is my room still available?" Oliver said as he came in.

"Where have you been?" Thea said as she gave him the biggest hug she could muster, leaving Malcolm who had woken her up in the dust. "I've been so worried about you."

He accepted the hug. God, it was good to be back home where he didn't have to worry about things like drinking penicillin tea. He could just hug his sister and not worry that she worried about him. "I was in Bludhaven. Ran into an old friend of mine." He told her this lie, because she did not need to know where he really was and why he was there, especially not with Merlyn right there, "Things got," Murderous? No. "Interesting. And I spent the past few weeks in jail." He chuckled.

"Thought you grew out of that," She said with a smile.

He raised his eyebrows and put his bag down, "So did I."

"Ollie-" She said, starting to explain Merlyn being there, but he stopped her.

"It's okay." He promised.

Malcolm stood up and shook Oliver's hand. "Good to see you again, Oliver."

"Yeah," He acknowledged

"I think I'm hallucinating, but thank you for being cool with this," Thea said as she looked between them. "I'm gonna make some tea and try to keep things Zen." She told both of them. "Oh," She stopped before she got to the kitchen and turned around. "Laurel is in the guestroom. She wanted to watch TV here and I didn't know you were going to be home so soon." She said as she went back to the kitchen.

He nodded. "I'll go check in in a second," He promised her as he looked to Merlyn and gestured near the window, so they could have an air of privacy while Thea was in the same room. They talked for awhile and laid all of the cards on the table, before Malcolm left with a quaint goodbye kiss to Thea.

Oliver went to the guestroom and stood in the doorjam for just a moment, savoring the look of Laurel, blonde hair pulled up in a messy bun, cami, no bra and some comfy pants while she sat there with a cup of coffee on the right side and the folder with all of her work in the middle of the desk.

"Hey," He said.

She turned around and saw him again, but it seemed like the first time, because she thrust her entire body onto his and closed her arms around him, "God, you gave me a right good scare," She told him. "You can't do that to me. The colors faded and I didn't know what to do. I panicked. I don't know what life looks like without you," She told him as she buried her face in his jacket.

He nodded. "Well, I promise, I'll try not to do that to you again," He told her as he pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear.

She looked up at him, "I missed you," She said as she laid her head down on his shoulder and just let herself feel him. All of the color in her life it was still there because he was alive. He was alive and he loved her and she loved him and that was all that mattered.

"God, I've missed you too." He said, trying not to cry. He had caused her so much pain she didn't deserve, but here she was, holding him tight, like if she didn't let go, then nothing bad could ever happen. And in that moment, all he wanted was for it to be true, "so much." He told her. Thea looked on with a little smile of her own. Oliver and Laurel were the two people she loved most in this world, the ones who would do anything for her.

She went back to her ice cream. They deserved some time alone.

Laurel stayed in the embrace and just let herself be held by the man who gave her world color, "I love you," She mumbled. She took a step back, but still held his hand. "You should probably go see the team. They're worried about you," She told him.

"In a minute," He promised, before he called for Thea to join them and hugged them both. "For now, I just want to savor the moment with the two people I've known the longest," He said.


	3. Yellow

When she first saw Oliver in the streets, he wasn't sure what to do. He gave her a lecture about keeping herself safe and how it was important she was doing justice work in the legal ways. She blew him off. And gradually they saw more of each other out in the field.

Till he called her selfish and then she told him that she would stay out of his way, but he needed to stay out of hers too. God, how could he be like that? He went for a fucking tumble with death and he was calling her selfish and telling her that she didn't care about her family and what it would do to them if she got hurt? God, he was so arrogant and provincial.

She stepped out of the Starling City Courthouse where, Zytle, who was a bad guy that they were putting away for a long time was being badgered by press. They all clamored for him to notice their publication. It was always like this. Big criminal, big story, even bigger story if you could get a choice and juicy quote from the criminal, something that dripped with seedy authenticity.

"How many people have your drugs killed?" The crowd pestered. "How many have you killed?" None of it was getting any attention though. "Reaction to your sentencing, Mr. Zytle?"

"The Roman governor, Porcius Festus maintained that the accused has right to face their accuser," He said in grand fashion as he looked around, "Now, where is my accuser?" He asked. He talked to the crowd directly, "I speak," He said, "of course, of the Arrow."

Nope. She couldn't let that go. That was going to be the end of that. If they got wrapped up in too much about how they got Zytle and not enough that he was a man who literally earned a living off of poisoning people, the story would change optics for the worse, for all of them. "Mr. Zytle has no further comments," Laurel said as she pierced the crowd of reporters and spoke to the U.S. Marshals at his side. "ADA Laurel Lance, take him to the van. Thank You."

The Marshal pulled his gun out and started waving it around, like he was scared or something. "Stay back," He shouted. He repeated it over and over until he fired shots into the crowd, which dispersed to safer distances, but still hovered around.

Laurel punched him, shock him and then disarm him, before he hurt anyone else, which included Zytle, who had a sentence, which needed to be carried out. But in all of the excitement, when she saw the Marshal was knocked out, she looked up and he was gone.

"Where's Zytle?" She asked, worried, because she knew how much destruction he could reign down if he was loose in the streets.

She tracked down any leads she had on Zytle. She had one thing, it was an important thing, but not enough to lead anywhere without help, one thing and then, nothing. There was absolutely nothing that told her where he was or where he might be going next and he was a man with talent, if they didn't find him fast, one vertigo was sure to be on the streets again, and two, they may never apprehend him again and to save her city that was not an outcome she was willing to flirt with.

She sighed and got into her car and drove to Verdant, and went down into the arrow cave, because they were the only ones with enough information to find him. They'd be able to identify something that other people couldn't.

Laurel heard them talking about Zytle when she came down, "It's planned," Oliver told Roy. "Those are the effects of his vertigo."

"Zytle was in a full set of restraints," Diggle said as they replayed the scene, which thankfully was pretty easy when it got press coverage and they could see everything the man did from the time he walked out of the courthouse "How did he manage to dose a federal agent?"

"He didn't." Laurel said as she walked in, feeling pretty good about her clue. They'd be able to track people down with it, she was sure. "One of the reporters did,"

Oliver's look of gall was enough to amuse her. It felt right being this way, making him feel like he couldn't tell which way was up for a second. He always had the upper hand and for the first time in her life, he had to admit that he had to play off her. He also seemed really angry that she would fight so openly.

"What? Was my form off?" She asked as she quirked a brow up.

"She's right," Felicity said as she nodded at the computer, "About the reporter,"

"We need a name-" Oliver started as he looked over to Roy and to Diggle in a way that told them to suit up.

Felicity finished, "And address on our clumsy reporter. I'm on it."

Laurel smiled to her female friend in the room and took her bag over to an empty table and started to unizp it, ready to go out and get some answers from the reporter she saw.

"What do you think you're doing?" Oliver growled as he looked between her and her bag.

She stopped for a second with the bag unzipped, "I'm coming with you." She said as if it wasn't obvious.

"No you're not." He countered.

Like he had any reason to take her out of the field on a normal day, much less today, when it was her information, her good information which gave him any hope of saving the city, "I just gave you your only lead," She told him.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" He asked and tried not to sigh, "Alone?"

"I know what you're gonna say." She said as she stepped out into the alley that he chose, the perfect place to get some air from the cave, but also, not to be disturbed, "But I risked my life for this city while you were gone. That should earn me some respect," She told him.

"This isn't about respect. And it's not about you risking your life," He sighed as he looked at her, all beautiful in her rage. She practically glowed. And she practically glowed out there in the field, but what they were doing wasn't a game without risk, and eventually she'd hurt herself. And that would hurt Quentin. And the memory of Sara.

"I understand that you miss Sara." He told her as he looked at her, but not directly in the eye, because he knew that what he was going to say would hurt, "And I understand that when you go out there like this all of that pain goes away."

"It's the only time it ever does" She told him as she picked at her nails and looked up to him.

"That relief isn't real," He told her. And he could feel what this would do to her, but it was the only way to keep her safe. And he needed one person in his life to be safe. And now, it couldn't be Thea. It had to be Laurel, she couldn't do this. "It's a drug,"

"If you're implying..." She choked on the words.

"You are an addict," He said as he looked her in the eye. Why did it feel like he was stabbing himself in the chest? She needed to be safe. She could hate him, but at least she would be safe. "Just like with booze and pills, that high you're chasing every night is endangering your life,"

"Go to hell, Oliver," She said as the fire in her eyes got brighter and he thought about that night at her apartment when Sara came over for dinner and asked him to come for moral support. God, it was the same fire then, but this time, there was no mistaking that defiance as anything but sheer force of will.

"You don't get to play that card with me." She told him as she stood taller and he seemed to shrink in size, "Ever." She couldn't even believe it with him. It was one thing to tell her that she wasn't safe, but another thing for him to bring this up, when his relationship with Felicity, and her for that matter was shaped by the fact that he was this thing. "And if there is anyone who is using andrenaline to hide the pain of real feelings and real life, it's you." She said as she pushed past him, into the street.

Fuck, what had he just done? Whatever, he told himself, it was for the best. Felicity had the work address of clumsy reporter and the best he could do to keep her safe was to get there before she did, because these guys, they never just took the easy way.

He didn't see her all night, which he guessed was a good thing, but dammit, it made him a little antsy that she didn't just come and kick his ass while he was kicking ass. That was her M.O. and when it wasn't there, it felt like something wasn't right.

Her dad brought her the case files and grilled her on Sara, because Sin said something. She hated keeping it from him, but he had a heart condition. He nearly died. She got his affairs in order earlier this year, she couldn't do that to him. She took a breath and looked into the files, trying to find a manifest that pointed in any direction.

She didn't think about Oliver's nagging voice in the back of her head about what would happen to her father if he lost her too. She couldn't think about that. She looked through the books and found something that lead her to a bunch of shipping containers at the docks.

"What happened?" Oliver said as he walked with Roy down into the arrowcave.

John looked up and looked t the screen. "One of tracking devices sent a signal from the docks," He said.

"Except we don't have any tracking devices in the field," Felicity countered, because they hadn't put any bugs out there in the wild lately. And then she looked between John and Oliver and saw something, "Unless we do," She said, disapproving, what she thought was coming.

"It's Laurel," Oliver confirmed.

"You tagged Laurel?" Roy asked. Oliver could hear the incredelousness in his voice and it didn't make it any easier doing what he did, caring about people when half of his team seemed to be against him. "With a tracer?"

"If she's gonna be reckless," Oliver said as he tried not to grit his teeth and just yell at them that he knew what he was doing. He was protecting her. He was protecting her family. They didn't need to go through that. Thea didn't need to lose another person in her life. "I need to know what she's doing,"

"Well, she's definitely doing something," Felicity pursed her lips as she spun around in her chair, and looked at her computer "Just not exactly sure how reckless it is." She jabbed.

"I ran the manifest on all the shipping containers you see here." Diggle told them as he looked around the room and sighed as he gave them the bad news, "One of these leads back to Zytle's old supplier,"

"Looks like Vertigo's back in business," Roy quipped.

Fuck. She was going out there alone and untrained and was going to do what? Take him down herself? He remembered what it was like to fight Zytle and he barely escaped. And he was trained at that point, at least gained a few knocks, knew how to size up his enemy. She was brazen and felt invincible and that was exactly why he worried. "She's gonna get herself killed," He said, before he grabbed his bow. "Suit up!"

Laurel snuck in the shadows as she peeked around to see what Zytle was doing with these shipping containers. He looked a large supply in one and then talked unceremoniously to the man in charge, when a goon snuck up on her and tried to give her the spook.

She hit him in the stomach and then dropped him down, let the chaos take him in as she ducked around the shipping container and tried not to make too much noise. She needed to know what they were doing, before she started picking them off.

They had guns and she leveled with herself, that wasn't going to be easy to deal with. She could wait, she thought, those guns were loud, clanked as they needed to be jostled around, if they did fire, she'd have some time to figure out a plan.

"Wonderful seeing you again," Zytle said from behind her. She turned and looked at him. He was the important one. The rest of them were small fish. "Oh, I fancy the new outfit," He said and she almost smiled, before he threw a dart that hit her right in the neck.

She stumbled for a few seconds while she took it out of her neck. God dammit, what was that stuff.

"Feeling my vertigo, my dear?" He asked.

Oh no, she thought, this couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening. No. Zytle's face shook into Sara's and it was the first time she saw Sara in a long time that didn't seem like an abberation. Especially because she had a strong pole to the face technique.

"Dinah Laurel Lance. selfish bitch. You're not a hero. You're a liar. A fraud. And an addict," Those were the words that she heard Sara say. But it wasn't Sara. It was the vertigo. It was showing her all of the insecurities she had about the last year. Sara, who was so strong, saying all of those things.

She fought as hard as she could. She needed to be able to show her, show Sara, the memory of Sara that she could be strong. She could do the hero thing, that it ran in the family, and they were strong together. But Sara overpowered her. She felt the blood drip from her nose and coughed up some of the blood. "Sara, please. Please. I'm your sister." She begged for mercy.

The figment didn't even seem that phased by her begging, probably saw as pathetic. Sara never was one to quibble over a lost apology. "Then why are you trying to take my place?" She asked. That was the last thing she heard from the voice before she blacked out.

Oliver hated seeing her like that and Zytle with her weapon, about to make mean work out her face, he shot it out of his hand. "Get away from her," He shouted and he could feel the color blurring together. No, what the hell was this? He looked at her on the ground and she couldn't be doing well, not with the way that he saw things.

They took care of the thugs that came to protect Zytle, but he escaped.

"Help me!" Laurel shouted. "Help me. Help me." Her voice was hoarse and the blood around her mouth wasn't doing her any favors. He picked her up in his arms and brushed the hair out of her way, before he took a car and hotwired it, fast as he could pack to the cave.

Roy looked at him like he was on meth, "Dude, that was a red light," He said.

"It was?" Oliver asked, as if in a daze, "I couldn't tell." He looked over to Laurel, her eys not focusing on anything and her screaming about Sara, god, how could she do this?

When they stopped, Roy looked to Oliver. "What's going on with you?" He asked. "You blew through like three red lights and you stopped at a couple of green ones. That's not you." He told his friend.

Oliver didn't talk, he took Laurel in his hands and took her down the stairs quickly, while ignoring all of the things that his friend had asked him. If there was any hope of regaining normal, it was in stabilizing her.

"We need an IV," He barked to Diggle and Felicity as he laid her on a de facto medical table. That was the good thing about having a base where every surface was pretty much stainless steel. "Watch her head," He said to John and went to work, making sure her limbs were extended and not in the way.

Felicity looked horrified at the sight. Oliver didn't blame her. This was not the way he saw Laurel ever. She was never this helpless. Even when she was in the hospital with the poison Nyssa had given her, she'd had an air of defiance and resilience. But this, this was traumatizing. "It's gonna be okay," Felicity said, even though, he was sure she didn't believe it.

He didn't believe it either. Because the colors in his world went from blurry, like he wasn't focusing, to fading, and there was a real problem there. He could not lose Laurel. Not like this, especially. If she left him forever, that would be one thing, but he still needed her to be alive.

"I'm so sorry, Sara. I'm so-" Vertigo showed her Sara. He pushed through it and stabbed her with the needle and she stopped convulsing, and the colors didn't get completely back up to normal, but at least they weren't shifting on him anymore.

God, how could he have let her do this alone? He breathed in. At least she was stable. That was more hope than he could ever dream of at this point.

"Ollie?" Thea's voice came from behind, "I'm sorry. I just wanted to talk,"

No. Thea. He twisted his body so that she couldn't get a good look at Laurel's face. He didn't want her traumatized too. He knew that they were close, that five years of him on the island, hadn't separated them in spirit, which was just so amazing.

"Thea," He said, calmly and gently, "Go back upstairs." When she didn't move, presumably because she saw the scene unfolding in front of them, he barked. "Now."

Of course, Roy didn't take that well and had something to say about it. Of course he did. Sleeping with Thea and he thought he knew everything that was best for her. He knew nothing. People in your life, they needed to be protected and sometimes they didn't know what that meant.

"It's okay," Thea said, "We can talk later. I just-" She stopped as she looked at Laurel's limp body on the table, "Just, is Laurel okay?" She asked. "Is she a part of this too?"

Oliver stepped away from Laurel for a moment and looked to Thea, "She's gonna be fine," He told her. A lie. Not a total lie, everything seemed to be coming up to more normal, but that didn't mean that she couldn't have a crazy reaction at any moment that could send her flying off into not fine, "I promise," He told Thea. "Just please go back upstairs."

Diggle came up and sat down next to him after about an hour, color finally back to normal. Laurel made a recovery and while he nursed his drink, he didn't want to think about what almost losing her had done to him. "This seat taken?" Diggle asked.

"It's a free country," Oliver joked. "apparently."

Diggle nodded. "Roy said you freaked out on the field. Were a little too aggressive and then you hotwired a car and made some really weird maneuvers." He told his friend. "You want to tell me what was going on or am I gonna have t guess? Because you were weird with Thea when she came down there too."

Oliver took his drink and cradled it in his hand as he thought about how to tell his friend. He looked around and then to his hands, "So I haven't told anyone this, but you probably already know. Laurel was my first great love."

Diggle nodded again. "I could kinda tell," He said, "But so what. It's not like your first great love is your soulmate, usually," He said as he poured himself a shot.

Oliver shrugged. "Except when they are," He said as he took a drink and continued. "Laurel has been a constant in my life. She was my home when I had none. She was my love. She's my color in the world. And tonight, it blurred on me for the first time. And faded. And I was so scared, because losing her to this means life is never the same." He told Diggle. "It's my job to protect her. And tonight, she almost died because she's on this crusade."

Diggle nodded and it felt like Oliver wasn't quite done with his thought on this matter.

"When we first went after Zytle, I told you this was my crusade. But that doesn't seem to be the case anymore," He said.

Diggle shrugged. "You're right. It isn't."

"I get that I was gone-"

Diggle shook his head. "No, you weren't gone. You were dead. And all of us, including me, were ready to hang it up." He told Oliver, which sobered him up a little.

"Why didn't you?" Oliver asked.

John sighed. "Because, we realized we weren't just fighting for you. We were fighting for ourselves too." He said. "That includes Roy," He told Oliver. "And yes, that includes Laurel."

Oliver squeezed his glass. He couldn't believe that Diggle had let her run into danger like that. "She's not a soldier." He said as he felt the weak points of the glass shift underneath and it broke in his palm.

Diggle looked at the mess around him and looked back up at Oliver. "Look, the reason you almost lost her is because she thought she had to do this on her own, because she wouldn't get any support from you." He told Oliver, who wasn't quite ready to face his own truths yet. "That woman is stubborn as a mule and if you want to keep her safe, you might want to bring her into the fold. That way she doesn't just go jumping at the chance to look for danger on her own." He said as he left Oliver to sit with his glass shards and think about his choices.

And with that, Diggle left to check on his baby, but also to leave Oliver to sit with the advice that had been dispensed. It gave Oliver pause to be called out like that, because they were right, this wasn't just his team anymore. The team functioned without him, whether he liked it or not, and they had brought Laurel on.

But losing her, he couldn't lose her. He couldn't even begin to think about losing her. Losing the color in his world and that meaning she was out of it, it hurt so deeply in his chest, he still felt the throb on his spine. Diggle was right though, if she'd had back up, maybe that wouldn't have happened. Maybe that wouldn't have been an issue and maybe he wouldn't be looking at a string of shots that he'd had to dull all of that pain away.

He sat there for a good couple of hours, afraid to go down there and look Laurel in the eye, she'd know and she'd understand, and he didn't really deserve her understanding. God, she always understood him. What did he do to deserve someone so special?

His thought string broke though, when his phone chimed loudly. He turned it over and it revealed an SOS text from Felicity and he rushed down to the arrowcave, where Diggle was coming in from the other side. "Daggett Pharmaceuticals. 5th and Kingsley." She informed the three of them standing behind her as Oliver came and looked over the map. "Looks like Zytle found a place to change those chemicals into Vertigo." She looked up to him and frowned, "And he's got hostages."

"Where's Roy?" Oliver asked.

"Can't reach him." Diggle replied as he got off his cell phone. Diggle motioned to Laurel and Oliver sighed. He was right, but god, he hated the idea all together.

"Laurel," Oliver said as he saw her in her jacket, god that jacket looked good on her, with her bag that she carried stuff in, about to walk away from all of this.

"Oliver," She said, a little curt. It cut him, but he deserved it. She looked him straight in the eye "There isn't anything that you can say to me that I don't already know,"

He nodded. Yeah, he'd screwed this one up and he needed to make it right, so he could say that she wasn't ready all day long or he could actually help her not get killed. In the end, there was no choice to make, because with her, there was never a choice to make, "Actually there is," He grinned a little "Help me," He asked her.

To say that the joy on her face wasn't contained would be an understatement. There was no container big enough, including the whole damn galaxy. She put the bag down and walked by his side, confident in herself like she hadn't been the last time he saw her out.

When they arrived at Daggett Pharmaceuticals, Oliver took out the first guy by wrapping him in a zipline arrow and then punched the next guy quickly, giving everyone a leg up on their movements. Laurel came out of the shadows and creamed a guy with tonfa, coming forward and standing beside him, surveying the damage that Zytle had done.

"Werner Zytle," He growled, "This ends now,"

Zytle shrugged. "As you wish" He said, "May I suggest a grand finale?" He asked in a cackling way that reminded Oliver of the clown that terrorized batman for so many years. He held up a vial, "Chlorine triflouride," He told them and then dropped it where it quickly set ablaze.

Oliver stood there frozen for a second while Laurel ran off to deal with Zytle as he tried to escape. He quickly regained his footing when Felicity and Diggle rallied in his ear about the thermal spike, but he couldn't leave all of these hostages behind.

And then it happened again. The color starting to shift in and out. "God dammit," He said, before he ran out of the building.

"What happened?" Felicity asked, worried in his ear.

He took a breath and held his heart. "She's been hit again," He told Felicity as he looked around to find any kind of trail he could follow. "Tell me you know where she is," He choked out.

"How do you know she's been hit?" Felicity asked as he heard clamoring away on her keyboard.

He shook his head. "The color. It's going in and out, just like it did last time. She's been hit and she's going to need us, so please tell me that you have a location for me," He said as he regained footing and breathed in. It felt like being shot, but that was okay.

"Yeah," She said as she spun around in her chair, "Alleyway about three blocks from where you are seems to be where she settled," She said, "But be careful," Felicity told him.

He found his way there and saw Zytle with his hand on Laurel's neck and then he saw Laurel look him in the eyes and have some kind of revelation, "No," She said, "And I'm done trying to be," Clearly, it was the vertigo she'd been talking to, but it gave her strength, because she bulldozed right through him.

And the color flooded back into his world like a rush of endorphins as she hit him in the face over and over and over and over again. She didn't hold back. All she had done all her life was fight the bad guys and this time was no different. The only difference was that he had.

When he stood on that truck and looked at her, he saw her look out into the distance. He wasn't even sure what she was looking it, but it had to be something beautiful, something that made her feel like she was part of something big. He looked on, "It's over, Felicity," And he meant it. The battle was over. His feelings for her never would be though. He knew it, in that moment, when all he could do was focus on her.


	4. Black

"First kidnapping, then stealing missles, Merlyn's trying really hard to be friends with Darhk," Laurel said as she paced the room, trying to figure out what the plan was, but also reminding Oliver that Merlyn was not a good man, not even in the slightest.

Thea shrugged. "If Malcolm's convinced Darhk is on the winning, it," She sighed and looked between her pseudoparents. They were so proud of her and she knew it. She felt it. Everyday. And even when they looked at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking, she could tell they loved each other too. She shook her head. "He's even trying to protect me from he's planning," She told them.

"The only thing Darhk should be planning on is getting convicted at trial," Oliver said as he looked around the room at the team. Knowing that Malcolm was still an element out thee, it hurt his very soul, but what could he do? All Malcolm wanted was to keep Thea safe, that they had in common.

John looked at the statue head from all angles, the eyes seemed to follow you wherever you went. And the appearance was grotesque to say the least of it, but there was something else about it that just felt off. "Why does that thing creep me out the way it does?" He asked them.

Laurel thought he must be joking. "Because it's creepy," She deadpanned.

"There's something I haven't told you guys," Oliver said as he looked at the idol. He couldn't stop looking at it, which for everyone else was odd, but Oliver's behavior had never been for the beaten path.

Thea clicked her tongue, "Shocker," Oliver glowered in return, although he couldn't exactly say anything because her lack of surprise over this was, well warranted. Keeping secrets was basically part of the family business now. And he knew that secrets got people killed, but god dammit, talking about the mystery past he had wasn't easy. When she saw how upset it made him, she grimaced. "Sorry,"

He looked at the creepy looking idol that Darhk had been using for all of his magic. "I've seen this idol before," He told them.

"What?" Laurel gasped, a little shocked that Oliver would just leave that kind of information out when they had seen it in the first place. "Where?"

"Lian Yu," He grudgingly gave up.

Laurel nodded her head. Of course. Lian Yu. The China sea island that Oliver was stuck on for five years and yet everyone knew so little about. "You really love not talking about that place, don't you?" She asked him.

"Where are we with the security upgrades?" He asked Diggle, avoiding the question. That whole story was for another time. Not now, where they were still fragile.

"Everything's in place." Diggle told him, "We're good to go."

"Because Merlyn knows the bunker's location," Oliver said, spinning a little out of control and it would have been funny if it hadn't been so serious. He could see Laurel's hint of a smile, but it wasn't funny. "And if he's working with Darhk..." Oliver started.

"...then that means we have to worry about them coming down here and stealing this creepy stone-thingy." Thea finished.

"And what about his plane to hijack the missile shipment?" Laurel asked. After all, that was why they were gathered here in the first place, to discuss Malcolm and his crazy plan to hijack an armored truck full of missiles.

"Oliver, I think we keep Andy right where he is," Diggle said as he looked up from the floor "That way we'll have someone on the inside?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Oliver asked.

Diggle nodded. "Well he's out from under the influence of Darhk. We can trust him."

"Trust is one thing," Oliver told him. "Selling him as a double agent, that's another," He furthered the point home. There was a lot of things that could go wrong in that situation and it was literally life and death. If there was even a smidge of doubt, it seemed risky. And well, Andy had been gone for a long time. "It's a lot of pressure to put on someone," He explained trying not to put it all on trust and hoping that Diggle would find another way out of this, "Especially, someone that is still in recovery,"

"Oliver, Andy is a stand up guy." Diggle assured him, "He's got this,"

"And you've got this," Thea said as she held up her beeping phone with a reminder about Ruve Darhk's acceptance speech for Mayor.

"You can blow that off." Laurel told him firmly, looking between both of the Queens. They invested a lot in the race for Mayor and it was all undone by stupid Darhk and his stupid threats. Ruve knew that she didn't get there on her own. Laurel knew also that the city would have probably elected Oliver. He was doing so well. It just seemed wrong. "You don't owe Ruve Darhk anything," She reminded him gently.

"Tradition," He said as he brushed the suggestion of blowing it off off his shoulder. As much as he would like to and Laurel knew that, which is why she suggested the whole thing. "Loser attends the winner's acceptance speech,"

"You didn't lose," She reminded him gently, "You pulled out of the race because of her husband,"

He took a deep breath. Couldn't she how hard this was for him, "Which I will try not to mention to the press," He said as he turned the corner, "Let's get this over with," All he wanted was for the whole business of mayor to be decided already. At least now, he could focus on other things.

Thea sat on one side of the car, while Laurel and Oliver sat on the other side facing each other. They both looked at their phones, the second they saw the other one look up and Thea couldn't help but smile. These two idiots. This is what she called adult supervision in her life for so many years and yet she wouldn't have changed it for the world.

They just looked like they belonged together. Laurel challenged Oliver to make better choices in his life in so many ways and you could just see Laurel open open when Oliver was around. They made each other better.

And that wasn't even to mention when they went out at night and fought side by side. It was like they were one mind. When they got going together, it felt like nothing else existed for the two of hem. They just saw each other and felt each other. Oliver had done it for so long without her, but it seemed like he felt more comfortable with Laurel by his side.

The car pulled up and the driver let them out and they pushed their way into the crowd, Laurel and Oliver stood side by side, as they looked on at the podium. "I'm gonna go try and find Alex, he should be here somewhere," She told them and they nodded.

Laurel smiled, "I can't believe she grew up to be so strong," She said as she saw Thea part the crowd and smile at strangers. She couldn't help but smile too.

Oliver shrugged for his part, "I can. She had a great role model," He said as he bumped her with his shoulder and she grinned at him too. He took her hand and looked to Ruve who was taking the podium.  
She started the speech with a spiel on city values and honestly, it was exactly the type of speech that most new mayors coming in make. He didn't want to take away from that. Ruve could have been a great mayor, but her husband was a literal crazy person with literal magic, so the speech which would have made him feel bad with any other candidate just rubbed salt in the wound.

Laurel squeezed his hand and smiled at him as he took a breath and listened to her finish up.

"We worked hard to get to this moment," She said with a gleeful grin, "But now the real work begins," She paused and looked around the crowd, trying to appeal. "To make this city great again! Thank you," She finished with a flourish and waved to the crowd of supporters.

Oliver took his hand and clapped and looked to Laurel who reluctantly did the same thing. How could they be clapping for this woman? She was a joke and a fraud, but they had to keep up appearances.

"Mr. Queen, do you have time for a few questions?" A reporter asked.

Oliver to his credit shook his head and Thea rejoined them. "Not a candidate anymore. I'm just here to support the new mayor," He promised the reporter, hoping that they would go away and leave, so that they didn't have to do any more time here than necessary and could go back to the very real work of keeping the city safe.

But the reporter was undettered by his frankness.

"So no comment about the write in results?" He asked.

Thea looked between Oliver and the reporter. Write in results. They had never actually even considered something like write ins. "What write in results?" She asked, as she scratched behind her ear.

The reporter looked between the two of them, quite frankly a little shocked at what he was hearing. "Forty Eight percent of the electorate wrote in your brother's name on their ballot," He told Thea. He looked to Oliver, "That kind of result, it's unprecedented." He told them. "And it's a historic showing for a candidate that pulled out of the race," He nudged them into even further of a lost victory. "I'll let you and your former opponent catch up,"

Laurel and Thea looked between the two of them. It was official, their boy had done it. He'd done something they'd never thought he'd be able to do. In the time it took him to run for mayor, he really grew up. He grew into a person that the city could trust.

Before the island, Oliver would have barely made it as beer king of Starling City and now there he was, running for mayor, and almost winning even when he had given it up.

Ruve parted the crowds and stepped in front of the three of them and sighed, "Well, thank you for coming out Mr. Queen, it was a very gracious gesture on your part," She told him.

"I'm always going to have the city's best interests at heart," He reminded her, not so gently that he knew how she got this position and it wasn't through the fair fight and hard won process of democracy. No, this was all a sham.

She nodded and grinned. "Well, let's hope the same can be said for your friends," She told him and then looked to Laurel. "Miss Lance, I am so pleased to meet you," She said with her congenial smile that most people would never call fake. She put out her hand to shake Laurel's who thought about it for a minute and chuckled before taking it, "I was so impressed by your handling of the Damien Darhk hearing," She said.

Laurel nodded. "I was just getting warmed up,"

"Well," She said, "My hope is that you'll be too busy to handle the trial," Oliver looked outraged, but she went on. "District Attorney Remz has taken on a new position as my Deputy Mayor." She continued, "And I would like you to succeed him as DA."

There it was. Her entire career she worked for this moment. The moment that she could be asked to do a lot of good for this city in the light, but it was being given to her by the shadiest person in politics, which was honestly saying something. Star City hadn't exactly been a gleaming and glittering dance in the sun when it came to politics in many years. She struggled with everyone.

Ruve saw the apprehension on Laurel's face. "Think about it," She said. "We could great things for this city if we work together,"

Laurel looked to Thea and Oliver and they left the party and stood out in the wind as the car pulled around.

Thea looked at Oliver and Laurel, "I'm just gonna get an uber. I have to talk to Alex really quickly one more time," She promised them.

Oliver opened the car door for Laurel as the car stopped in front of them and she gracefully entered, before he entered and shut the door and gave the driver quick instructions before putting his attention back on Laurel. "Talk to me," He whispered to her as she put her head on his shoulder.

She shrugged. What was there to talk about? She couldn't take that position. She couldn't work with Ruve Darhk. There was no way that any of this came close to being okay. She shook her head and breathed for a second.

"Sometimes I wish we could just go back to when we were normal. When the craziest thing we ever did was eat neon green mint chocolate chip ice cream and watch movies together," She told him. She looked up at him and sighed a little bit. "I don't know how I survived five years without you by my side." She told him.

He chuckled. "Half the time, I don't know how I last five minutes without you by mine," He told her as he kissed her forehead. "We'll figure all of this out," He said. "I promise,"

"Come back tonight and watch a movie with me?" She asked him and he nodded.

The car stopped in front of Laurel's apartment building. It could have been there apartment building, he knew that. It was the apartment she wanted for the both of them. Had already signed the lease, couple of days after he got on the boat, so she could have a surprise waiting for him when he got home, but then it took him five years.

He became so much of a monster in those five years, the only thing that gave him humanity was that he had her in his life still. She was still out there, making the world a better place. She gave him color. She gave him that photograph and he was reminded not to ever give up hope.

They walked up and put a movie on. They sat there, cuddled together, enjoying each other's warmth and company and the color of the comedy they had put on. None of it was particularly interesting, but being with her, it just made the rest of today a little easier.

It couldn't last forever though. Eventually, they both got calls telling them that it was time for them to look over the city. She and Thea were to be at the bunker and he went out with John to track the truck that had the missiles in it.

Thea lamented not being out there and making a bigger difference. Laurel certainly knew that feeling. She also felt it, but she knew that Oliver was right, that they needed to make sure everything was secure, not just the missiles. And that included this idol thing. "Even with John's fancy argus toys, this place is more secure with us watching over it," She told Thea.

Thea looked to her, "So are you going to do it?" She asked, "Be district attorney by day, black canary by night?"

Laurel hadn't really thought about it much at all. She didn't want to talk about that stuff with Oliver, but it was different now, she actually had time to think about it. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

She shrugged. "I don't know," She said as she really thought about it. "I mean it would help having eyes on Mrs. Evil," She said.

"Well," Thea said as she looked at the monitor, "If you believe Malcolm that's a short term job anyway," She continued, "Won't be any need for a DA once the city's destroyed,"

Laurel looked at Thea with the use of Malcolm. It was no secret that Laurel and Malcolm never got along. Not when she was a kid, not now. But Thea had a relationship with him. "You're not calling him Dad anymore,"

"Yeah, well," Thea said as she looked between her shoes and Laurel, "That's because he's not dad," She shrugged. "I know I've said that before," She sighed, "but this time is different," She looked at her shoes, "This time it's mutual,"

Which is, of course when Malcolm showed up, all looming and condescending, and talking about how they still needed a few more upgrades to keep him out. "Hand over the idol, and there won't be any trouble," He said as he looked between his daughter and Laurel, as several stray Malcolm loyalists from the League of Assassins came through the doors, clear on what their intent was.

"Well, then," Thea said, "There's gonna be trouble," She said as she and Laurel started to fight off League members and Malcolm got out of the way. They were specially trained and Malcolm always disappeared when it came to fights, but she never expected this.

Laurel and Thea did a fair job of beating the League members before they looked around at Malcolm was gone. "Go!" Laurel shouted to Thea, "Make sure he doesn't get away," She said as she twirled like a violent ballerina and focused on the last League loyalists in the main area.

When she knocked the last one out, she ran over to where she saw Thea chase after Malcolm and saw that her friend had a knock above her eyebrow. She pulled Thea up.

"The idol," Thea said as she looked over at the case,

Laurel nodded, "It's gone,"

Post mortem with Oliver was always tricky. He wanted to see the best in people, but since the Island, it became harder, she understood where he was coming from. So much pain in your life and you just stop trying to trust people fully. It had been hard before the Island too, when sometimes all people were interested in was their fifteen minutes of fame with Oliver Queen, but he was open to it.

But a little bit of suspicious behavior and patterns set him off now. She reminded him that while yes, there was a lot they didn't know about Andy, that there was someone they trusted who trusted him. And that he had done some pretty selfless things in the face of danger.

Going after Andy was something Oliver could do, but he needed some proof first. Oliver nodded. She made him see the nuance in the world. Not everything was black and white, some things were red and pink.

The box factory was a bust and going to Iron Heights with Darhk and Merlyn there, that wasn't undoubtedly a stupid idea, they all knew it. So they didn't go. Only Laurel did as the ADA to have the cell block searched and to make sure the idol wasn't there.

Oliver had a bad feeling about the this whole thing. It was coming up a little too easily for the bad guys. It was always like they were one step ahead of the whole charade. Laurel wasn't concerned though. The bad guys always seemed like they were one step ahead. When the police officers who were flitting through Darhk's stuff found nothing, she sent them off to look through everyone else's, there had to be something.

"You know, you're lucky, I'm not the man you think I am, Ms. Lance," Darhk said, once he was back in his cell, door safely locked, "If I were the man your father so vehemently claims, you'd be in a lot of trouble now, wouldn't you?" He asked.

Which to be honest, made Laurel's day, "Are you threatening an assistant District Attorney?"

"No, no, no, not at all," He said in that jovial way that people who are hiding things often do, "Just trying to figure out where your father gets these vicious ideas from," He said, "Oh, I do hope his mind isn't starting to go."

He was goading her. She wouldn't buy into it. When he saw it didn't work, he further prodded a little more. "Dementia is sometimes an after effect of long term alcoholism,"

"You're a son of a bitch," She growled.

He shrugged. "Regardless, it's comforting to know his heart is in the right place," She breathed in and listened to him talk for a little while longer, "A father who would do anything to protect his daughter from the dark,"

With that she had enough, she got up real close, and whispered, "I'll see you in court," And then left him there to rot in his cell with the other lowlifes around him. This city had enough darkness. She was fighting in the light.

When she came back with no news of the idol, things did not look great. Thea got the prison hacked into, so they could see what was going on in there without her having to be there for whatever inocous reason they could come up with, but Oliver seemed extra flustered.

"You okay?" Laurel asked, once she got him alone.

He shook his head. "John and I had a difference of opinion," He told her.

She nodded. Yeah, she figured something like this might go down. "About Andy?" She asked.

He nodded back to her. "Yeah, I probably should've taken your advice, District Attorney Lance," He smiled.

She grinned too. He looked so proud when he said that. "I'm still Assistant District Attorney Lance," Laurel told him as she looked around. She'd be giving all of this up to be District Attorney Lance and her father was right, maybe it wasn't worth it. Maybe having eyes on someone in the inner circle wasn't exactly where she needed to be.

She'd fought so long for that position, she'd be the youngest person in Star City History to have the District Attorney's job and one of the few women to hold it. But she didn't know if she needed that anymore. None of the accolades could match up to this.

This was her family and yeah, maybe nobody knew what she did for this city and none of it would ever be attributed to her name, but it was attributed to a name she picked out and that was enough for her.

"I'm turning down the promotion," She told him.

His eyebrows knit together, like something wasn't colored quite right. "Because it's being offered by Ruve Darhk?" He asked her.

"No," She told him, "Because taking that job means giving up everything I have here, with you," She said. And realized how it sounded. It sounded like she was giving it up to be with him. "And the team," She added.

He palmed her cheek and smiled weakly. "Team's falling apart," He said. "John's furious with me. Thea's consumed with rage over Malcolm. And Felicity, she's gone," He told her. "Being District attorney is something you've worked the better part of three years for,"

She put her hand on his and leaned into his palm. "I might have wanted to be DA, but that was a lifetime ago."

He nodded. "Sara's alive, you know. You channeled your grief and became the Black Canary, but she's not dead anymore. And maybe you owe it to yourself to pursue that path," He said.

"You're serious?" She asked him.

He looked at her and took her face in both hands and looked at her with all the love he could muster. "This city has enough heroes with masks. With Ruve Darhk, it's going to need a hero without a mask. And there's no one who could be better suited for that job than you," He whispered.

She looked up at him from hooded eyes, "How did you become so smart?" She asked him.

He shrugged. "I fell in love with a girl who opened my eyes to the color of the world," He told her. "And I've never stopped believing in her."

Rec hour at the prison was the one hour when the prisoners were out of their cells and able to matriculate down the halls without constant questioning. Rec hour at the prison was often a time that Darhk found books to read.

The alarms beeped from the computer, "It's rec hour. The prisoners are out of their cells. He's holding guards hostage." Thea informed them as they came to see what was going on. That much racket from the alarm system almost definitely meant something very dangerous going on.

"How many?" Oliver asked.

Diggle didn't bother. "It doesn't matter how many," He told Oliver. "We have to put Darhk back in his cage," He told them.

Laurel held back when Oliver called Gear Up and he lagged behind a second too. She wouldn't do that if it were nothing. He didn't open his mouth but he asked the question looming in the room.

"I can't prosecute him without him in custody first," Laurel told him. He knew what that meant. It meant that this was going to be the last time they did this together. She was going to be the District Attorney, but first he needed to help her right this one injustice. Make sure a madman didn't escape from their clutches, "One last time," She told him.

He nodded. It was right. He knew it. It would keep her safe, make sure that she had a long and healthy life, full of wonder ahead of her, but it felt like they were giving up an era. It felt like they were on the last chapter of their story, because everything he shared with her, it was so ingrained in this, it felt so deep that losing it would be like losing a piece of them.

She sighed and wiped the tears from her eyes, "If we don't go, we're never going to leave, and you're gonna cry too. And you look ugly when you cry, your face gets blotchy, it's not a good look," She laughed a little.

He laughed a little too. She always did know how to say goodbye without actually saying goodbye. He took her by the hand and held it until he couldn't, leading her into the battle that would make them safe.

When they all landed in Iron Heights, they took count and they were one extra. Andy. "I thought I told you to come alone," Oliver growled.

"You did. I didn't." Was the only reply he got from John. And Andy preened on how he was a changed man.

Oliver didn't waste anymore time on that distraction. Because it was a distraction. Andy might help. And if he did, good. If he didn't, well, then at least John would know in the heat of battle Andy couldn't be trusted. Oliver knew John well enough to know that if there was one thing John trusted in, it was loyalty on the battlefield. This would be the make or break moment for Andy.

"Darhk has the hostages in the mess hall. Let's fan out and hit him from all sides," He ordered the team and they split up, John and Diggle taking one hallway, Thea and Laurel taking a second, and Oliver taking the third on his own.

Laurel and Thea busted through three guys in the cellblock fairly easily, when Malcolm came from behind. "That was a nice warm up," He said, "Looks like you're ready for a rematch," He said. Laurel stepped forward, but Thea pushed her back.

"Go find the others," She told Laurel. "I've got this,"

Laurel shook her head. "No, let me take him," She didn't want Thea fighting her father. No matter how little he was her actual dad, he was her father, and that meant something to Thea, at least it had for a long time.

"Go," Thea barked. And Laurel let her do what she wanted.

Laurel arrived at the Mess Hall as fists started flying, because John and Andy had shot a couple of the prisoners and Oliver helpfully left an arrow in one of them. She bashed her tonfa against a guy's skull, while she jumped over a table and landed between two more guys.

She swung at one with a right hook. Then the other with her tonfa. Before one of them tried to grab her practically by the lapels and she used his weight to throw him to the ground, where he seemed to stay. Now, just one.

She threw him down, when she saw Oliver looking around the room. She looked around too and saw what he was looking at. Darhk. With a gun.

It was all over. "Andrew Diggle," Darhk said in the trademark uptick speak of his, "It's been awhile." He said, aiming the gun at Andy, "Drop your weapons," He told the team.

"Don't do it," Andy insisted, even as he was being held in a chokehold and had a gun pointed on him.

Darhk shrugged. "Suit yourself," He said, "But on the count of three, I'm going to turn that wall into a Jackson Pollack painting with his brains. One.." He said. "Two..."

Oliver, John, and Laurel all put down their weapons and were restrained by prisoners. And Andy was released from his restraint. "I believe you have something for me," Darhk asked Andy as he moved forward in the room.

When he gave the stone for the idol to Darhk, it was betrayal of the darkest kind. Andy betrayed everyone on their team. He came so far and he was still in such darkness. "Was there ever a chance for you?" Diggle asked.

"Your brother is way beyond reach, Mr. Diggle," Darhk said as he put the stone back into his idol. He had all of the power he could accept now and they had just given it to him, because they trusted this person with their lives. They believed in coming back from the edge. And Laurel couldn't see through the dark fury she held in herself. "It's all over now," He said.

Two arrows flew right into Darhk's gut. "You took the words right out of my mouth," She said, and everyone fought out of their restraining prisoner. Darhk had his own men killed by Andy to sate his need for power and the idol's want for sacrifice.

He froze everyone in the room as soon as he could. "Ah, it feels so much better." He shouted as he let the prisoners free to go from the mess hall, roaming the halls, waiting to get out of their cellblock. "Andy might have mentioned something about his brother working for the Green Arrow. Or should I say Oliver Queen." He monologued about how he knew all about the connections and that the real sticking point was William, Oliver's son and how it was a father's love, how he knew it.

Malcolm felt compelled, "We need to get out of here!" He said. "Now," With a sense of urgency that in the entire time she had known Malcolm, Laurel only very rarely saw him show. Urgency meant things were important which was weakness.

"Patience," Darhk purred, "I've been waiting a long time for this," He said as he looked to Laurel, who looked a little terrified. How wouldn't she? He had them frozen and could do anything to them. There was nothing from stopping him from enacting his reign of terror, right here, right now, but she knew that at least if he did, they wouldn't be let him get away with it, without a fight.

He gingerly pushed her hair back, "Miss Lance, you see, nine months ago, I made your daddy a promise," He told her. "I told him what I would do if he betrayed me," He grinned at her.

Oliver broke free of the spell and shot an arrow at him. To get Darhk away from Laurel. She was not her father and she wasn't even Oliver. She had nothing to do with Darhk other than getting him locked away which was a good and noble thing to do.

But Darhk stopped the arrow. "Impressive," He said as he clutched it in his hand. "Now where was I?" He asked rehetorrically to the room. "Oh right." He said as he continued. "I want you to give your father a message from me," He said as he wiped the grin off his face and plunged the arrow deep into Laurel's body. "I want you to tell him that I'm a man of my word,"

And then he let them all go.

Oliver could feel the color draining from the world as he picked her up. They still had time. She still had time. He picked her up, "You're gonna be fine," He kept promising her as he took her to the hospital. "Help!" He called when he got her into a room. "I need some help in here." A doctor walked in and looked between the two them. "You have to help her."

The doctor examined Laurel on a superficial level. "She's lost a lot of blood." She said as she shouted for other doctors. "You need to let go," She told him.

"What?" He asked, further grabbing her hand.

The doctor looked to him and softened a little. "I need you to let go, so I can do my job," She said as she started taking Laurel out of her suit. "And you might want to change your clothes too." She told him.

Standing outside the trauma center was torture. When Thea, Diggle, and Felicity arrived, at least there was someone else to help him through it. They all asked questions. And he had some for them. "Where's Darhk?" He asked. That was the most important one.

They were going to catch Darhk and kill him if it was the last thing that Oliver did alive.

"He's in the wind," Thea told him, "Along with fifty or so inmates,"

"And Andy," Diggle added. Andy, who betrayed all of them. Who brought that piece to Darhk. Andy, who was why Laurel was in the hospital in the first place. God, it seemed like practically only yesterday that Diggle was advocating for Laurel's place on this team. "You warned me and I didn't listen," He told Oliver. "How am I going to be able to forgive myself?" He asked.

Oliver said nothing, clasped his hand over Diggle's shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. They couldn't have predicted what Andy would do and they certainly didn't think he would stoop to this level. None of them did. Not even Oliver, who hadn't been Andy's biggest fan recently.

The trauma team came down the hallway wheeling Laurel into a room, Laurel was moving, so that was a good sign. And the doctor told them that she'd made it through the surgery all right. Little miracles, Oliver supposed.

"She's a strong woman, your friend," The doctor said.

Felicity nodded. "The strongest,"

"She's been asking for you," The doctor finished, before she left them alone with Laurel in the room. John, Thea, and Felicity went in quickly, but Oliver stayed behind, still couldn't shake it. She was alive, but his vision was still hazy, like the color was stuck behind a window or something.

He shook it off and headed inside where she looked around. "Hi," she said, in a hoarse voice, like she'd been through hell.

"Hey, yourself," Thea said as she kept the joyous tears at bay.

"Did Darhk…?" Laurel started to ask.

Felicity shook her head. "Don't worry about him," She said as she squeezed Laurel's hand. "Just focus on getting better, okay?" She asked.

Laurel laughed a little. "This was not how I intended my last night to go." She told them.

"What are you talking about?" Diggle asked. She hadn't broken the news to the team. It was her secret. One of the decisions, they made together.

Laurel shrugged. "It's a long story," She told them as she tried not to move too much, because any sudden movement, even sudden breath felt like being stabbed. "I was gonna give up being the black canary," She told them. "But I realized I don't know how I could." She told them. "Because going out there," She said as she looked around the room,"And fighting alongside you guys," She squeezed Felicity's hand. "That's what makes me feel alive inside." She told them. "And I love you guys so much," She promised them.

The chorus of true I love yous that came from the group went around the room and stopped at Oliver, who couldn't say the words. And then worried about her health, they left the room to let her rest. Except Oliver, who she worried about.

"You should probably get some rest too," She told him, knowingly.

He shook his head and held back tears. He was strong for her. "No chance," He said. "I'm gonna stay right here, until you can light up the moon with your bright brown eyes," He told her.

She loved him so much, it was unkind to herself. "There's something in my," she thought quickly, "left pouch, will you bring it to me?" She asked him.

"Yeah," He said and crossed the room.

He dug through her costume and found a small book in her left pouch. He looked at it and looked to her and she nodded for him to open it. What he found surprised him.

It was the island photo, all crinkled at the edges from where he cradled it so much. He remembered when he gave it to her. When he left because he couldn't face his life after the undertaking, after Malcolm had gotten away and Tommy was gone. She saw so much good in him still. And it was like being on that island all over again.

The tears welled up and fell, he couldn't hide from the feelings anymore. "You kept this?" He asked as he gave it to her.

"Yeah," She shrugged. "Just a little reminder of when things were simpler," She told him. "For us. The way we used to be,"

In that moment, it became clear that no one had ever been there quite like she had. She had been there through the good and the bad, the long and the short, the simple and the really complicated. There was no one he could love more than he loved her.

"I'm really glad you found Felicity," She told him, "And I hope you find your way back to her." She sniffed and tried to get a hold of her breath. "Because Oliver I know I am not the love of your life, but you will always be the love of mine.

He shook his head. "I don't need to find my way back to anyone," He promised her as he sat by her bed and clasped her hand, "Because there is no one who makes me feel like you do. You're my guiding light. You are the woman who brings color into my life and there is no one who makes me feel more than you." He said. He pushed some hair back over her forehead. "Anyways, why are you telling me this?" He asked, eyebrow raised. "Why now?"

She took a deep breath and looked at him with clear eyes, "Because tonight was a reminder that anything can happen," She told him. "Which is why I need you to promise me something," She said with more force, getting more confident with her voice.

He crawled into the bed with her and held her in his arms. "Anything," He said as he kissed her hair.

"Ollie," She whispered, "Your instinct is to always go at it alone, you can't. Promise me, that whatever happens, you'll have a team to support you," She told him.

He nodded. Simple request. She was going to be on that team. No matter what role she had to play, whether it was background or a physical role. That was her choice, but everything got clear for a second, really vibrant, and it made him hopeful.

Diggle, Thea, and Felicity stood out in the hallway, waiting for any sign.

Thea, rounded the corner as she put her cell phone away, "I just got off the phone with Captain Lance, he's on his way." She told them. "I told him that she's doing fine." Felicity grinned a little. She did seem good when they were in there.

Oliver and her needed some time, obviously. Trauma had been there thing. And it was always hard to gauge whether it was just them feeling each other out, or if it was more than that. But Oliver was ready to marry Felicity. Clearly what he felt for Laurel was secondary to that.

"Out of the way," The doctors shouted as they wheeled in a machine to Laurel's room and they all went in behind her. Laurel laid there, flopping, seizing and Oliver looked truly distraught.

Felicity looked to him, "What happened?" She asked.

He shook his head. "I don't know," He told her. "She was fine. And then," He gestured to her. He heard something about an embolism, but quite frankly, he didn't even know. She'd made it out of surgery.

No one else was looking at him, but he could feel the light dimming in the room. And he didn't want it to be true. It didn't quite leave. She still had hope. He prayed silently that some merciful god would come to their senses and save her while the doctors did everything they could to bring her back from the brink.

But he could hear the flatline and he could see it starting to fade and there was nothing he wanted more than for her to live. She was the only who deserved to live. She was the best of them. She was the best of him. She didn't deserve this. She deserved to live in a world full of color. She was stronger. She deserved to love again.

She deserved better than dying for a crime she didn't commit. She deserved to die from her own bad blood. She deserved more than to be a pawn in great man politics. "Do something!" He yelled, when the only color he could even see the faintest bit was the slightest bit of purple off the bear's shirt, that stupid bear he got to bide his time away from the torture of waiting for her to come out of surgery.

"Come on, Laurel," He said quietly, as he held Thea, who was the only family he had left. The only person who knew what it was like to irrevocably have Laurel Lance in your life.

"Time of death," The doctor said as she stopped pushing on Laurel's chest and sighed, "11:59"

With those words, Oliver's worst nightmare came true. After nearly fifteen years of full and vibrant color in his life, the world turned back. Black and White.

What a shitty world to live in. Everyone else quietly shuffled out of the room, but all he could do is think about how red used to look and how it matched so clearly with the anger he felt well up inside. This couldn't be happening.

He punched the wall as he saw her eyes peacefully resting there like she hadn't just been fighting for her life. She was just there. God dammit, he loved her. Why? Of all the people, she did not deserve this. She deserved to go on and do the great things that she was meant to do. It should have been him. She'd be able to carry on.

Oliver took a breathe and kissed her forehead. "This will not go unnoticed," He promised her dead body.

When he left her room, he saw Quentin and his heart sank. He didn't even think about Lance or Sara and how they couldn't be there for the end. Her father, she would have wanted to say something to him. See, this is why she shouldn't be dead. There was too much that should have gone into it. She deserved more.

And seeing Quentin crumble made his heart break again. He shouldn't have to go through this. Not again. Not after he lost Sara so many times. Laurel was always there. He should have been able to live with that image forever.

But some things are forever lost to the ether.


	5. Epilogue: Technicolor

When his phone rang in the middle of the night, he literally rolled out of a bed with a thump. He picked it up and grunted into the phone.

"You should really have some better manners being raised in that fancy family mate," A swagger pushed through his voice. Oliver couldn't imagine what John Constantine was calling about in the middle of the night, but it sure as well wasn't good. He knew that man had trouble following him always. He knew it because he had been on the receiving end of it a couple of times.

Oliver rubbed his eyes and sat back on the bed. "Well, you know, it's..." He looked over at the clock on the nightstand, "Three, twenty two, in the morning. You don't exactly have the best timing so you'll have to excuse my manners." He said.

John stroked his chin and stretched, "Right, well never was very good with time relative an' all, but speaking of time, I think it's about that, I should give you another visit. I got something that might intrigue ya." He sai9d.

Oliver could only imagine what it was that John thought would interest him. "You know, I'm really good. I've got Christmas coming up and a ton of things to do as mayor." He said, trying desperately to get out of it.

Of course, Oliver knew that it wasn't going to be that easy. He owed the man a favor for bringing Sara back from the dead. Only, look how much good that had done. He couldn't save Laurel. Constantine liked Laurel. And it was a great source of shame to Oliver to bring the news that she had passed to him.

But Cosntantine kept prattling on. "Look, it's not for nothing, but I have a small gift for ya. I'll be in town today, just give me some time in your busy schedule." He said.

Oliver nodded and when the phone clicked, he went back to sleep, but not before he wrote a note down, telling himself to remind himself that that call was real. He looked over to Laurel's picture and he could have sworn that he saw the beautiful colors that had kept him alive for so long, but he shrugged it off. The note was more important, besides he'd had that dream before. He hadn't dreamed it up. Constantine was coming back to Star City.

When he woke up at Eight AM and stretched his arms out into the vast open space, he looked over to Laurel's picture and he noticed that in fact that maroon top wasn't just his imagination. It actually looked like that.

He sat there very still for a couple of minutes when Thea came in and saw him not moving. "What's going on, we're supposed to be at the Starling Elementary in less than an hour, you should be up and dressed and prepping by now," She said as she came in and tried to usher him out of the bed when she noticed what he was staring at.

She looked at it and smiled. "God, she was too good for us." She said.

Oliver nodded and then snapped out of it. It was just a fluke accident. He couldn't be seeing color. It was just his mind filling in all the dark spots. He went over to his closet and picked out a suit when Thea approved and then went about dressing in it.

"What's this note?" She asked as she snooped over his nightstand. "Constantine coming this afternoon. Not a dream?" She asked him. "What kind of dreams are you having, Ollie?" She asked with a devious tone in her voice.

He looked out behind the closet door for a minute and shook his finger at her, "You don't start. John called me last night and said he wanted to meet up with me. Apparently he has something for me, which with him, is either a nice gift or him calling in that favor, so I'm gonna do the Elementary school thing and then you're gonna clear my schedule, so I can be on call as it were." He told her.

She typed furiously into her phone as he ducked back into the closet. "So you're not curious as to what this thing is?" She asked. "And you're just gonna shirk all mayoral duties in leiu of it?" She pointed out to him.

He came out of the closet, now looking like a gentlemen, holding two ties. "Which one would look better at this thing, "The navy microdot or the maroon microdot?" He asked.

Thea blinked at him and said nothing.

And then it hit him like a wall of bricks again. He hadn't been able to see the difference between these two ties in a long time. And the only way that he would be seeing color again was if he found a new soulmate, which had been impossible. He spent all of his free time being the arrow and all of his not free time being the mayor.

Which meant that his soulmate possibly came back to life. But that couldn't have been. She was dead. She'd been dead for months now. He was finally starting to get used to a black and white world and now it had all changed up on him again.

She took both ties out of his hands and shook her head. "Go get a silver tie," She told him. "We're going with a silver one. It's got that sort of regal air that will go with the brand, but it's also not stuffy and so the kids won't mind it," She said as she took the ties into his closet and picked him a normal silver one.

She put it on him and looked him in the eye as she did it up, "I don't think I need to say this, but don't tell other people about this, because it will cause panic. I will ask Felicity to do a scan for her," She said.

He nodded. He wanted to, though. He wanted to tell everyone that the most worthy person of being alive, who had been tragically cut down, she'd been given back to them.

The event was boring, compared to the things that he had going on afterward. The kids were good and they played along well. They filmed the Christmas greeting that would play around the city and it was cute. Of course the reporters were also there.

It was one of the things that he hated about this job, the reporters. "Are you looking forward to Christmas?" One of them asked.

He nodded distractedly as he looked at his watch.

"So a bunch of years ago, you said that the person who got you into the Christmas spirit was the late Dinah Laurel Lance, how are you feeling spending your first Christmas without her?"

The question rang in his ears and it took him a while to even respond. He didn't even really hear it. "I'm sorry, I don't have time for anymore questions," He said and he said one last goodbye to the kids, who honestly didn't even care that he was leaving, and then hurried away.

He went to the bunker and Thea and Felicity were up at the computers. When they looked over, Felicity said something to Thea, who quickly climbed down the stairs.

She shook her head. "We haven't found her, but that doesn't mean anything," She said.

Felicity furiously typed on her computer. If she were out there, Felicity would have found her. He shook his head. He didn't need to do this. He couldn't do this. He had to accept that his life was going to be a little less colorful without her. He couldn't keep doing this to himself.

"It was just a fluke," He said. "I've got to go back to the Mayor's office," He told her and he turned his back on her.

She saw his heart break again. It had broken when they asked him the question about Christmas and her not being there. And here it was, when he got confirmation that if she had been alive, she would have come to them, and she wasn't there, and it was just another heartbreak. But what did they say about heartbreak? If you're heart could break, it was still beating?

"What about Constantine?" She asked him. "Should I send him to the Mayor's office?"

He shook his head and sighed. "No, I'll just go home I guess. I can do work from there. And he can come there," He told his little sister.

She nodded and hugged him tightly. She hated seeing him go through this, but there was no one better to break his heart than Laurel. She was the best of all of them. He deserved to remember that he loved her.

He went over some of them briefings that Thea had sent over for him to peruse at his leisure and he thought that maybe he could do this. Maybe life could sometimes be a mess for him, whenever he remembered how much he loved hr, when he got those sprigs of color, but he could get through it.

A rap came at the door and he sighed. Well, John certainly had timing. "I'm coming," He said.

"Take you're time," The accent came from the other side of the door. He could hear the cigarette being lit on the other side of the door and he was sure that his neighbors would hate that, so he quickly opened the door. "Ah, cheers mate," He said as he grabbed Oliver into a hug.

It was a little forward for John, but he figured that it was just the Christmas spirit. He opened up the balcony doors to his friend and smiled. "So what brings you here?" He asked John as he closed up the briefing.

"You know that girl," He said as he blew smoke rings out into the cold, "You know the one with the sister we brought back from the dead?" He asked Oliver.

Oliver nodded. "Yeah, Laurel, well I have some unfortunate news on that front," He said. He'd practiced for this moment. He knew how this happened. He could put the words in the right order and they would come out. "She passed." He said.

Constantine looked over to him and nodded. "You know, sad, it's not a great look on ya, mate," He said.

Oliver let out a laugh, "Well, then I'm sorry, it's been a long day and I'm not really sure that I can put myself into a good mood," He said as let John finish his cigarette. John would just have to come back another day if he wanted happy Oliver. Today was never going to be that day.

Constantine didn't seem to get that invitation to leave though. "You know, I have something that I think might make you feel better," He said. "But you got to get out of this place to see it," He said. "And in fact, let's go to that silly statue you had built," Constantine said.

Oliver groaned. This whole day was designed to make him remember her. "I'm a little busy," He told Constantine. "I have some briefings that I have to deal with,"

John Constantine wanted him to come though. "Do I have to mention that you still owe me a favor, and while this would a silly way for me to get that favor repaid, I could cash it in and make you come with me?" He asked, "Besides, the city can wait. This really can't." He told Oliver.

So Oliver caved. He got into John's car and they went to the statue. Constantine drove and he kept looking over to Oliver, searching the expression on his face. Oliver for his part said nothing, because all he could do was sit there in his thoughts.

When they got to the statue, he saw another car there and a woman got out of the car. "That's my friend Zed," Constantine told Oliver who nodded and said nothing still.

Zed opened the door of the other car and held her hand out for the other person in the car.

Oliver's heart stopped right there.

Constantine looked over to his friend and yeah, there it was. It was the freezing cold here and they'd come without jackets, but Oliver wasn't even phased by the cold. Everything in him was focused on her. There was no maserati here and this was no dead end street.

Constantine grinned. "When she asked me to bring her to you, I thought, I might be a damn good sinner, but I can't turn down an angel," He told Oliver. "Look, I'm no idiot. You messed up with that one, but you got a chance to redo it." He said and he sighed. "Don't be an idiot. Take that chance," He told Oliver.

Laurel turned to see him and she grinned as she practically set into a sprint and Oliver caught her in his arms and didn't even bother to stop the tears from coming. He could see the blonde in her hair and the red of her dress.

He held her like she would break and Zed went over to Constantine and grinned as she saw the two who were so clearly in love. "It's good that we brought them together again," She told Constantine. "They're good."

Constantine shrugged. "Oliver's no saint, but that girl, that's the only thing in this world that got him through things. And she's special. Not everyday that the gods let you out of their deliberation process for a redo." He told her.

Zed looked away from Oliver and Laurel who were still looking at each other like they had finally found god and to Constantine, "What make's you so sure that Gods were involved?" She asked. "And why Gods, in general, isn't there just one?" She asked.

He shook his head. "If you've been around what I've been around for as long as I've been around it, you know that there's way more than one god, and I'm on the bad side of all of them," He said. He looked over to Laurel. "All she ever wanted to do was help people, and in general," He smiled at the scene. "Gods look kindly on that. I mean it could have been something else, but it's all in God's hands, isn't that what you're so fond of thinking?" He asked her.

She couldn't disagree with his assessment that maybe it did have something to do with God, but it was truly a miracle and she wasn't sure how she felt about seeing one progress right in front of her eyes.

They had some other things to deal with, and Oliver had gotten his gift. They could leave now.

Oliver saw Zed and Constantine get back in their car and he breathed for a minute. "We should take you home," He told her. "But I mean, the bunker. And also your father in rehab. There are so many choices,"

She nodded to him. "God, it feels like yesterday," She said to him as she held her face close to his, "You even smell the same," She said in that warm honey voice she had when she was relieved.

He nodded. "Well, it feels like ages since you've been here," He promised her.

She ran her fingers through his hair, "Well, we won't have to worry about that anymore," She said to him. "But let's go to the bunker first, have Felicity get my sister, and then we'll figure out how to tell my dad with her," She told him.

He nodded. He got in the car and started to drive to the bunker, but then he passed it and they ended up at the pier. She laughed a little. "Well, I mean unless you've changed bunker locations," She said as she looked up a the building.

He shook his head. She took his hand and kissed it.

She was too good for him. He would have to face his life everyday knowing that she was too good for him. This didn't happen to ordinary people. They just learned to cope with things. And his love, his great love, she came back to him.

She pulled the keys out and smiled. "I guess whoever gave me back to this world," She said. "They had the same idea you did," She told him.

It was Tommy's place. He'd given them the keys to it when they were younger and full of youth and when he died, it became hers. Oliver was still to have a key to the place, but the deed would be transferred to Laurel to do with as she saw fit.

She kept it up and he'd kept it up since her death, but he hadn't gone in there since she died. It just reminded him too much of her and Tommy and all of the ways that he'd fucked the world up. He couldn't spare another moment with all of that guilt.

They climbed up the stairs and she unlocked the door and they stood there in the very clean apartment for a few minutes.

He looked over to her and saw her blush. "You know," He said. "I actually had a bunch of your stuff brought here, so if you want to change, before we see everyone?" He asked. It was a little cold and it was only now that he finally realized it.

She nodded. "Come help me pick something out," She said to him as she beckoned him into the other room.

Helping her pick something out? Well, that was definitely a good use of finally being able to see color again. When he walked in and saw her combing through the boxes, he was reminded about something Sara had said when he saw her after he thought she was dead for five years, _Some things never change. You and her, always and forever._

He was happy to try and prove her right this time, by truly being deserving of the girl who combed through all of her stuff with a remarkable calm. "You know, everyone's gonna freak when they see you?" He asked her as he kissed her head.

She shrugged and smiled up to him with a little bit of sadness in her smile. She hadn't done anything wrong. She hadn't died on purpose and yet it felt like she had let everyone down. "Maybe I should just go," She said.

He shook his head fiercely and put his arms around her. "There's no way I'm letting you leave ever again. We have to die on the same day, Dinah Laurel Lance, you hear me?" He asked. "Because god knows, I can't do this without you anymore." He said. "I love you. I always have. And I always will." He told her as he kissed her gently.

She kissed him back and it felt right. She sighed and held onto his wrists. "They're not gonna be mad at me?" She asked him.

"I'll kill anyone who is," He told her.

She held something out and he nodded his approval. She looked at him and shook her head. "You don't need to kill anyone for me." She told him.

"For the girl who brought color back into my world?" He asked her. "Well, I'd do just about anything," He said with a grin.

She grinned too. "Okay, but maybe not killing," She said as she tackled him while attempting to put on some pants.

He chuckled. "You've got yourself a deal," He told her. All the feeling of hallucination this morning, they all faded. He had her back. He had the color back. And in the end, it was the only thing that he ever wanted in the world.


End file.
